


You do Have a Family

by Rory_writes



Category: The Dark Artifices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, The Wicked Powers Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blackthorn Family bonding, Fluffy Ending, Jace is a good cousin, Kit deserves a family, M/M, blackthorn family - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26188780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rory_writes/pseuds/Rory_writes
Summary: The Blackthorn family stumbles on a collection of pictures from their childhoods and Kit feels misplaced and lonely so he calls the only blood relative he has left.Jace knows how he feels.
Relationships: Helen Blackthorn/Aline Penhallow, Julian Blackthorn/Emma Carstairs, Tiberius Blackthorn/Kit Rook
Comments: 2
Kudos: 91





	You do Have a Family

Kit leaned back into the arm of the lounge chair, eyes glazing over at the sheer amount of words on the page in front of him. The book was in English and yet he was still finding it difficult to focus on the convoluted passages. Ty was leaning against the opposite arm of the couch with his feet on Kit’s lap and his headphones over his ears, looking more invested in his research that Kit could understand. Livvy was peering over Ty's shoulder, and even she seemed to be having no trouble reading the Latin scriptures. Whether or not the two of them were actually getting any useful information from the book was a different question altogether.   
“This is pointless,” Dru grumbled from the computer in the library, rubbing her eyes fiercely. Kit didn't say that he agreed with her, but he was worried she might be right. 

“Just keep trying Dru, we will find something,” Julian said, not unkindly, from where he was sitting at one end of the long table with Emma. They were surrounded by books in all different languages and topics. Helen had Tavvy in her lap and they were looking through all of the nursery books and books of myths, trying to find connections to the events that had unfolded and reunited Kit with the Blackthorns. Aline and her daughter were lying on their stomachs next to each other near Helen and Tavvy, but Aline was preoccupied with baby Iris more than with researching (which was fair because the two year old kept trying to crawl away).

“This is starting to feel useless,” Mark commented, pushing a book away from him. He looked slightly miserable; the kind of miserable that comes with the person- or in his case the two people- you love being far away from you. Kit did feel bad that Mark had come back to Los Angeles from New York for the investigation, especially because Cristina was four months pregnant and due to complications couldn’t travel by plane or Portal.

“Something needs to pick up morale or everyone is going to lose hope,” Livvy said, but Kit was the only one who heard her because Ty had his headphones on. Kit looked up at her ghostly form and shrugged imperceptibly. He didn’t really know how to lift the Blackthorn’s morale, the only person in the room he really knew how to make smile was Ty and he seemed content in his research. She gave him a resigned look and sank to the floor in the way only a ghost could, sitting with her head at Ty’s elbow.

“It’s not useless; we just… have no idea where to begin,” Julian said, rubbing his eyes like Dru had done moments before.

“Yeah, but we’re doing this because we have to start somewhere,” Emma added, pulling her legs onto the seat and hugging her knees. She looked exhausted, which was as expected seeing as though Kit had found her walking around the Institute all hours of the morning looking agitated and stressed out.

“Yeah I guess,” Mark muttered, running his fingers through his hair with one hand and pulling the book closer again. There was silence as everyone at least attempted to work, the odd scratch of a pencil, flipped page or clicking of the keys and mouse at the computer.

“By the Angel!” Dru exclaimed and everyone sat up straighter, looking over at her.

“What did you find?” Julian asked quickly, pushing his seat back as if about to sprint over to her.

“Baby pictures of Mark!” Dru said with a big smile on her face. “Aww and look at you as a baby, Julian!” she continued, clicking on the mouse.

“Dru what are you doing that isn’t-“ Julian was cut off by Dru cooing at the screen.

“You and Emma were so cute when you were kids!” she said and Emma stood up to go and peer at the screen. She smiled, cheeks going softly pink as she gazed at the picture.

“We were cute,” she confirmed. “You still are,” she added as Julian came closer and wrapped his arms around her. Livvy rose and floated over to see and the nostalgic look on her face made Kit smile sadly at her.

“Look at little Livvy,” Dru said softly, voice thick with emotion. Livvy gently kissed Dru’s cheek even though the younger sister wouldn’t really notice. She righted herself and looked over at Kit, gesturing at Ty who was staring intently at his pages.

“He would want to see this,” she said, so Kit put his book down and squeezed Ty’s ankle gently. Ty pushed one of the earphones away and gazed expectantly at Kit with a smile, making Kit’s heart skip a beat or two.

“Go have a look at the screen, they’ve found baby pictures,” Kit said. Ty’s gaze slid to the group around the computer. Mark, Helen and Tavvy had gone over as well, and Aline was in the process of scooping Iris up to have a look too. Ty put his book on the sofa and stood up, Kit’s legs going cold at the loss of contact, but that disappeared as Ty paused and reached down on his way past to take Kit’s hand and pull him after him. Ty stood next to Livvy and peered down at the screen as a chorus of ‘aww’ went up around the Blackthorns, a picture of Ty and Livvy taking up the screen. They were about six years old, Kit guessed, and they were hugging each other on the lounge Ty and Kit had just been on. Livvy was grinning gap toothed up at the camera and Ty had his eyes closed with his head on his twin’s shoulder. He still had his intensity even in a picture of him so young and Kit gently squeezed Ty’s fingers.

“I lost my tooth the day after that was taken,” Ty explained and Julian smiled down at his little brother.

“You were so upset,” he said and Ty looked down at his feet.

“I only let Dad take it because it because Livvy had let him take hers,” he admitted, and Livvy laughed, shaking her head at her twin.

“You were miserable; you told me you didn’t like losing parts of yourself,” she said.

“I got used to it..." Ty mumbled so that none of his family would really pay attention to what appeared to be Ty talking to himself, but Kit knew he was talking to Livvy.

“Are you talking about losing me or Kit?” She asked and Kit glared at her, but she just smiled sweetly back. Ty didn’t respond, just kept his attention on the pictures. Images of Tavvy learning to walk; of small Julian getting tossed up gently in the air by Helen; of Mark reading in the training room; Dru poking her tongue out at the camera; Livvy laughing at Julian who was sprawled on the floor with Emma sitting on his back looking triumphant. Apparently their mother had started taking photos when Mark and Helen were only small, and even after her death Andrew had continued to take photos.

“I forgot about these,” Helen murmured.

“I found them in a picture book a few years ago and had them scanned, downloaded them on the computer,” Julian explained. He looked at peace and even happy as memory after memory surfaced.

“Look at your mommy, Iris!” Aline said softly as a picture of Helen and Mark mock sparring at about ten or so appeared, and then she kissed her wife’s cheek. More pictures appeared and Kit started to feel an ache in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t explain. Mark had his arm around his older sister’s waist and his hand was resting on Dru’s shoulder. Tavvy was sitting in Dru's lap and in the middle of the family was Emma and Julian, as they always were. Kit felt isolated, alone, even though Ty was still holding his hand. They were a family unit. Even Emma had been raised with them and appeared frequently in the images, and Aline would have pictures like these at her own house. Kit didn’t. If his father had taken any pictures, which Kit sorely doubted he had, they were destroyed and long gone. Kit’s throat felt thick and his heart beat felt hollow in his chest. He had the Carstairs, Tessa and Jem and little Mina, but he didn’t have a family like the Blackthorns. You could see it, the family unit which worked better when together than apart, with the little empty spaces between them that haunted them where those they had loved were lost; even if Livvy was there in spirit.   
Kit was finding it hard to breathe.

“I’ll be back,” Kit whispered to Ty and let go of the dark haired boy. Kit felt Ty’s gaze on him as he left the room, but he didn’t turn back. He continued out into the hallway and further outside to the front steps of the Institute. He sat down on the steps, hugging his knees and taking deep breaths. He missed his father, yes, but he missed what he had never had even more. He missed what could have been a real family. He was an orphan, had been for years, but he hadn’t had a real family or at least what should have been a family for his entire life.  
The tear slid out of the corner of his eye before he had even realised that there was stinging behind his eyes. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, fidgeted with it for a moment then turned on the screen and clicked on the contacts icon. He wiped his cheek on his shoulder, pressed one of the contacts and put the phone up to his ear with bated breath.

“Hey kid!” Jace’s familiar voice filtered down the line.

“Hey Jace.” Kit sounded a little bit weaker than he would have liked, and Jace picked up on it.

“What’s up?” Jace asked. Kit took a deep breath and hugged his knees tighter.

“The uh… the Blackthorns were looking at baby pictures and family pictures and I…” Kit trailed off wondering if he sounded as pathetic as he suddenly felt.

“You felt like you were going to be sick or like you couldn’t breathe?” Jace asked and Kit heard him getting comfortable somewhere inside the New York Institute. Kit felt a weak sense of relief that Jace understood.

“Yeah, and it kind of hurt? Like someone had punched me in the stomach,” Kit said and Jace made a sympathetic noise.

“I know how you feel kid, I felt it a lot when I first moved to the Institute and the Lighwoods were so clearly a family and I… well I was so clearly not. I can’t imagine that it would help being back there with the Carstairs still in England either,” Jace said and Kit nodded, even though the older Herondale couldn’t see him.

“It sucks, yeah. I wish that there were pictures of my childhood though,” Kit said and Jace chuckled softly.

“Me too, some documentation of how cute I was,” Jace agreed and Kit smiled, wiping a few more escaped tears away.

“I’m sure you were adorable Jace, nearly as adorable as me,” Kit teased, feeling a little calmer and a little more grounded.

“Don’t be so damn rude Faerie boy,” Jace said and Kit laughed despite himself.

“I got it from you Angel boy,” he retaliated. There was a pause as Jace laughed again and Kit felt the tightness in his chest ease up a bit. 

“You may not have been raised in the family unit of your dreams, but you do have a family Kit,” Jace said. “You have Tessa and Jem and their daughter, and of course the Blackthorns even. You have me too, you know that or you wouldn’t have called. You should come down for the weekend soon, come spend some time with us in New York if you want?” Jace invited and Kit smiled against his knees.

“Yeah, that would be cool,” he agreed, “Can I bring someone with me?” he added.

“Of course you can, there’s plenty of room here,” Jace confirmed. “However, I have to go as Izzy looks like she’s about to go into the kitchen. We’re having pizza tonight and if she puts pineapple on it I may actually die,” he explained, and Kit laughed again.

“Mark did that last week!” Kit said, “I nearly threw up, and Ty wouldn’t touch it.”

“Yeah sounds like me, pineapple is absolutely disgusting and doesn’t belong on pizza,” Jace said. “How is Ty anyway?” he asked which made Kit smile to himself, even though he knew Jace was just asking to be polite.

“He’s good, he’s inside looking at the pictures with his family.”

“Glad to hear it, tell him if he hurts you I’ll kill him.”

“Julian said the same thing to me.”

“It’s a big brother thing,” Jace said and Kit could hear the pride in his voice. “Anyway, are you feeling better?” He asked.

“Yeah I feel better, thanks Jace,” Kit replied.

“Good, you can call me whenever okay?” He said and after Kit’s noise of agreement they said goodbye and they disconnected the call. Kit put the phone back in his pocket and rested his chin on his knees, hugging them to his chest. He did feel a bit better knowing that Jace understood and that he could go see him one weekend soon, but he didn’t want to go back inside yet.

“Are you okay?” Ty asked and Kit flinched in surprise, he hadn’t even heard the door open.

“Yeah I’m good,” Kit replied honestly. Ty settled himself down on the step beside him. Kit and Ty had only been boyfriends for a week so he didn’t blame his stomach for erupting in butterflies when Ty put his arm around Kit’s waist and pulled him closer. Kit unfolded his legs and put his head against Ty, listening to his boyfriend’s heartbeat.

“Why did you leave?” Ty asked and Kit closed his eyes.

“I just needed air,” he said and Ty cuddled him, putting his arms under Kit’s jacket for warmth.

“Did you call Tessa?”

“No, uh, Jace actually,” Kit told him, twisting to wrap his own arms around Ty’s waist.

“Did he help?” Ty asked and Kit nodded, pressing his face against Ty’s neck where the skin was soft and warm.

“You do have a family, or at least a place within my family,” Ty said and Kit smiled. He kissed Ty’s neck, just below his ear where he could reach and Ty’s breathing hitched which just made Kit blush. Family or not, he at least felt more at home cuddled up to Ty than he had felt in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted from my Tumblr @tsc-living <3   
> Follow me on TikTok @raeganlei for Dru Blackthorn cosplay!!


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